The Garden Bridge project costs us £54m

BY JAMES TWOMEY
James@slpmedia.co.uk

The full cost of ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson’s failed project, The Garden Bridge, came to £53.5million, it has been revealed.

The bridge was designed as a pedestrian footpath lined with trees connecting the South Bank with Temple, in between Blackfriars and Waterloo bridges, but rising costs and concerns over value for money led to its closure.

Transport for London has published a detailed breakdown of the costs involved for the project and show that the final cost to the taxpayer came to £43 million.

The Garden Bridge Trust, which oversaw the project’s construction, confirmed in August 2017 that the bridge would not be completed after more than three years of planning.

Alex Williams, director of city planning at Transport for London (TfL), said: “As part of our continuing commitment to transparency, we have published the final financial breakdown for the Garden Bridge project, on behalf of the trust, as well as all evidence sought as part of this review.

“We worked to ensure that the cost to the public sector has been kept to a minimum, and having carefully reviewed the Garden Bridge Trust’s request, we have now confirmed the final payment legally required under the terms of the underwriting agreement made by the Government.

“This formally ends our involvement with the project.” Up to £60million of public funding was made available to the Garden Bridge Trust with TfL and Department for Transport providing £30million each.

The report also confirms that the final amount payable to the Garden Bridge Trust is £5.5million which will come from DfT funding.

All documents published by TfL relating to the Garden Bridge Trust project can be found at https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/temple-footbridge